Trying to explain the appeal of Tamayura is a bit like trying to explain to someone how Animal Crossing is so addictive. It’s not so much about the content, but the atmosphere. The first season wasn’t exactly a revolutionary story, but it had enough iyashikei power to sooth any raging beast. In hopes of getting those feel-good vibes again, I’m here to see what season 2 has in store.

The story recap isn’t exactly necessary given that not much has happened, but it’s nice to get a bit of a refresher on the characters. All that really happened in season 1 was that Fuu slowly became more serious about taking pictures, got help from her idol, and then encouraged her friends to do the same with their own hobbies. There’s some drama thrown in as Fuu tries to get over the death of her dad, but it’s never the kind of heavy drama that makes you overly anxious. This season is all about being “more aggressive.” In case you have the memory of a concussed goldfish, Fuu mentions it a dozen times throughout the episode so you won’t forget. She’s going to be aggressive and by God, you’re going to know about it!

To be fair, a lot of this repetition is just to set the tone and ease us back into the Tamayura frame of mind. Fuu has learned to take excellent photos, follow her dreams, and accept the death of her dad, but she’s still a bit airheaded. All that’s left is for her to become more proactive – not just about photography, but about the whole “human interaction” thing. It’s a noble goal, but you know at heart she’ll always be someone totally deserving of nicknames like Potte and Fuu-nyon. However, I do hope she makes some progress.

All that “aggressive” talk wasn’t just talk, either. She decides to start up the Photography Club halfway through the episode, which initially worried me. I didn’t want this to become another anime set primarily in school where it’s the “cute girls in _____ club” formula. I let out a sigh of relief when Fuu told her mom about it and was gently praised for starting a club her father would be proud of. This isn’t just an after school club where cute girls flop around and eat sweets, but a meaningful club Fuu is trying desperately to form so she can grow as a person. There’s a lot of depth to that. That’s not to say there won’t be cake. If there’s anything I remember vividly about season 1 it’s how mouth-wateringly delicious all the desserts looked.

Season 2 looks like it’s promising to deliver on everything that made season 1 good. It’s still firmly focused on photos, friendship, and the death of Fuu’s dad. However, there’s still a lot more that can happen to Fuu as she enters her second year of school. It’s only episode 1, and I already felt myself melting a little inside from how sweet the ending of the episode was. I’m not usually a sucker for the warm and fuzzies, but Tamayura pulls it off so effortlessly.

Tamayura has just one turn-off that sometimes annoys me. Fuu’s friends teeter on the edge of grating almost constantly, and I’m always on edge for them to do something stupid and/or irritating. Having to deal with a whole OVA where one of the characters communicated exclusively through whistles gave me enough fill of that gimmick to last me the rest of my life. I don’t know what I’d do if she hadn’t learned to speak properly. There’s also the fact that everyone is on some sort of extreme end of the spectrum. If someone is shy, they are so shy they won’t talk to anyone. If they’re outgoing, they’re nothing less than an 11 on the loudness scale. There is no real “in between” so everyone feels more like a caricature than an actual person. There are some new characters on the horizon (Tomo-chan and the stalker girl with grey hair) so we’ll see if they’re any better. My only other gripe is that the animation seems a bit worse than I remember, although admittedly my own memory may be at fault here.

All in all, this really is just more of what season 1 was about and I’m completely okay with that.

35 Responses to “First Impressions – Tamayura: More Aggressive”

Yet another anime where I’ve missed out on a previous season. Aah, what is this streak of bad luck I’ve been getting lately?

By the way, it looks like you’re branching out on genres, OC. I’m as surprised now with you interested in something as slice of life-ish and cute as this as I was when you said you were into shows like Senran Kagura, Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls and Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Bride.

In all honesty, something like this rarely gets my attention but if it’s enough to snag the Queen Sadist of Metanorn, then it’s worth checking out even if it doesn’t look on par with the slice of life yet romance injected Ano Natsu de Matteru. And the talk of a Photography Club already makes me think of the recently completed Photo Kano.

I’ve branched out over the years, but probably not as much as you think. I blogged the original Tamayura OVA way back when Hato-kun still wrote for the site (it was a tag team post). I’ve always kept an open mind for ecchi shows as well…Highschool of the Dead was the first show I blogged alongside Shiki. However, I definitely do try and watch more shows each season even if I feel like it has next to zero appeal for me. The only thing I still avoid like the plague is straight-up romance and shoujo.

I’m unsure if you’ll like Tamayura, but you could always start with the OVAs for a test run. They’re pretty short, so if you don’t like it you haven’t wasted that much of your time!

I remember when Hitotose originally ran. Since I do dig the slice of life shows, I checked it out w/o seeing the original OVA series. I am very glad I did. I recall a hard work week, and some rather personal matters that weighed on me mighty heavy. And it was nice to have a good iyashikei program come along, like a warm bath to soothe me.

More Aggressive doesn’t have to change any of that; nothing is required for it to be different than what has come before. The story is simple, and yet the process is incredible.

This show is just so nice. Watching this first episode put me right back in the earlier show. And even though the show is so positive and supportive (or maybe because), I still found myself with my eyes damp near the end of the show. It’s just so obvious that everyone in the show (except maybe that little brat who likes Kou from the first season) really cares for everyone else.

I never found Maon’s whistling to be too much of a problem, maybe Norie’s mania is the most grating thing, but other than that, the show’s just fun and lovely.

People (including me) have been making a joke about “More Aggressive” (or ‘moa agureshibu’) since it was announced, but hearing Fuu say it makes it seem perfect for the show. The relative nature of the phrase works, and thinking that Fuu would keep thinking to herself “I need to push more, Which choice should I make?” really sets up this series well.

We’ll see how she does with it, but I am liking the naming more and more.

I’ve seen a bit of Joe, and used to have many volumes of One-Pound Gospel. This was back when I used to read just about anything Rumiko Takahasi put out. Mermaid’s Kiss, Ranma 1/2, Takahasi Theatre, Maison Ikkoku….

Well, you might have to wait until Fall 2013 to get something close to that. Look for the name Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai! It’s not boxing but female pro-wrestling. Does it come close to what you had in mind?

I love living vicariously through them. It all looks so lovely and fun. I just wish I knew of more restaurants that had okonomiyaki near where I live! I want to have it on the hot tables like they do….

We had a Benihana near where I lived, but they never did okonomiyaki until they changed names when the place went belly up. I like mine with tons of cabbage and bonito and more dried seaweed than humanly possible.